Got any bad customer service stories?

[mirthmaiden]

I just got to thinking about the sorry state of customer service these days. It seems rare to find somebody who actually likes their job and goes the extra mile for a customer. I thought it might be funny to share some horror stories about bad service.

Mine didn't happen to me, but to a friend of my sister's. She was in the drive-thru at a fast food place and it was lunch time, very busy. She placed her order and when she got up to the window to pay, she realized that she needed to add to her order. So she told the clerk she needed an extra burger and here's how the rest of the conversation went:

Clerk: We're just too busy. You'll have to drive around and get back in line

Her: I don't have time to get back in line. I just want to add 1 thing to my order.

Clerk: No. We're too busy to change your order.

Her: You're refusing to sell me food?

Clerk: yeah, and if you don't like it you can go *******

Her:

She, of course, was speechless and drove off. When she had collected herself, she called the restaurant's district manager who apolgized profusely and sent her a bunch of coupons for free food. Have no idea what happened to the employee of the month.

 

[mirthmaiden]

((((bump))))

 

[Steffi]

I was at a fancy restaurant years ago. I asked our waitress if I could please have another iced tea. She just told me, "No." That's it, nothing else, just a rude, terse NO, and went along her way, never stopping at our table again!

 

[Darcy03231]

I was trying to make a spa appointment once and the girls behind the counter were too busy talking about their love life to find an appointment for me. I told them to never mind I would make one at a competing spa up the street. One of the girls looked at me and said "ok" went back to her conversation.

 

[ucfsweetie82]

Let me preface mine as I have worked in the customer service industry since I was 15. Poor service gets me very mad.

#1
Going through a fast food drive through.
Get to where you order.....hang on a minute. Ok. Now I'm ready hurry up and order.
I ordered and got my food.....they never verbally told me the total and were silent the entire time.

#2
Going out to lunch one day.
We go in get seated, and sit for 20 minutes. A couple of people who weren't our servers came over and got our drinks and brought bread. 40 minutes into the ordeal our server showed up. No apology just a how r you guys? How's everything so far? The other two servers brought our salad and food. Never saw him they had to go hunt him down for the check. Needless to say I left our server a penny and gave his tip to the lovely servers who tried to reconcile our experience. Lunch took approximately an hour and a half. Needless to say I did write the restaraunt about my experience and got a $40 gift certificate.

#3
Dinner at a different restaraunt
We go in the host hands us the menus and tells us to seat ourselves in the bar area. We don't care about that. We get to the bar area and there are no tables, so we go back to the host and ask if we can have a table in the dining room. The host rolled his eyes at us and sighed and took us to a table. When he sat us down I said thank you and he said whatever. Then our waitress couldn't have been less interested in waiting on us if she tried, because we wanted dinner and didn't order alcohol. In the middle of dinner, brought the check. We were never asked if we needed anything or wanted desert.

I honestly urge anyone when they get poor service to complain to a manager, management cannot know what goes on when they are not out on the floor, and they deserve to know. There are many people out there that need jobs that would do a better job than some of these people that don't deserve the employment they have in the first place. Consumers need to begin demanding descent service.

 

[mandy200587]

Me and my friend went to O'Charleys for lunch one day. We're sitting at the same table, I get ignored with no refills. We have to ask for refills. Literally I had no service and my friend had service. Needless to say I didn't leave a tip and wasn't happy with the service. Funny thing is I never saw her again.

 

[AprilShowers]

Went to a neighborhood restaurant and were seated right away. We waited over twenty minutes and our waitress NEVER came! We were talking and didn't notice for a long time.
Finally someone came and told us that our waitress walked off the job and didn't tell anyone!
She apologized profusely, but the rest of our meal took forever because this poor girl was already overworked because they were picking up the crazy quitters tables.
We still tipped well cause it wasn't her fault.

 

[GolfCrazy]

I'm tired of bad service and I tip accordingly. We will notify the manager if the service is bad enough, but we also notify the manager if we get better than normal service.

 

[Ride Junkie]

Clerk: We're just too busy. You'll have to drive around and get back in line

Her: I don't have time to get back in line. I just want to add 1 thing to my order.

Clerk: No. We're too busy to change your order.

Her: You're refusing to sell me food?

Clerk: yeah, and if you don't like it you can go ********

Her:

Oh man, that made me laugh out loud! It stinks that it happened to her...but the little guy's expression at the end of your post is EXACTLY how I would expect her to look!! Ow, my stomach hurts...

 

[pittypat]

My parents were at a restaurant and had a really, really bad waitress. She took forever, was rude, no drink refills, my mom never did get a knife. So, my dad, who was usually a good tipper, left no tip. The waitress followed them TO THEIR CAR, shouting at how awful it was that they hadn't left a tip.

Number two-a friend's DD and BF were at a swimsuit shop in the mall. No one waited on them, the girl tried on several suits and finally found one she liked. They went to the counter to pay, no one there. They waited and waited and waited. Finally they decided to just leave the money behind the counter and leave. When the BF stepped behind the counter, there was the clerk on the floor. She had DIED there! Freaked them out completely. Not that that is bad customer service, exactly...

 

[ilovefh]

My parents were at a restaurant and had a really, really bad waitress. She took forever, was rude, no drink refills, my mom never did get a knife. So, my dad, who was usually a good tipper, left no tip. The waitress followed them TO THEIR CAR, shouting at how awful it was that they hadn't left a tip.

Maybe that is why they got such horrible service.....she was too busy chasing people out to their cars the whole time!

 

[simba928]

1) 3 friends of mine and myself (all 16 and 17) went to lunch one day at Hard Rock Cafe. We went and sat down. Another server came out almost immediately because he said he didn't know where our server was, but would take our drinks. Find by us. He served our drinks and he said he may as well take our orders because he still didn't know where our server was. At that point our server came out and took over. Both guys were really nice. One of them talked to us for a while. Good service throughout the meal and our server was never far away. We left a pretty decent tip on the table and left after we payed. On the way out the door, we glanced over at the table to make sure we didn't leave anything and saw our waiter walk past it, not even looking and run up to us. He said in this really rude tone, "Not to be rude or anything, but are you going to leave me a tip?" We were too shocked to do anything, so we just said that we did and it was on the table. Looking back, I should have walked back to the table and grabbed it and said "Not anymore."

2) Back in middle school, after dances, everyone would walk to a restaurant (our middle school is on a main road with Bob Evans, a Denny's, and a Wendys) and eat there. Once we decided to go to Denny's. We walked in and a few people had to use the restroom so the rest of us sat down and told the waiter we were going to wait for the people in the bathroom to come out. He walked away and we sat there for about 35-40 minutes. He never came back, not even to take our drink orders. We eventually just gave up and walked out.

Another time after a dance, we decided to go to Wendy's. We walked across their parking lot and they threatened to call the cops on us if we didn't leave because they were "closed" (this was only 930 or 10 PM and there were people in the dining room and the drive thru) and it was considered trespassing. We weren't doing anything wrong, just walking and they stood there yelling at us for 10 minutes. After the first time they said it, we went to the side of their parking lot to talk and figure out where we going next, but they kept yelling at us saying if we didn't leave right now, they would call the cops. We were just like whatever and walked over to Denny's.

 

[Ride Junkie]

Number two-a friend's DD and BF were at a swimsuit shop in the mall. No one waited on them, the girl tried on several suits and finally found one she liked. They went to the counter to pay, no one there. They waited and waited and waited. Finally they decided to just leave the money behind the counter and leave. When the BF stepped behind the counter, there was the clerk on the floor. She had DIED there! Freaked them out completely. Not that that is bad customer service, exactly...

 

[mrsdon]

I called a place that I had a loan through that was paid in full and asked them to send me a letter with a ZERO balance
She told me they dont do that
WTHeck..... Its my loan!!!
I was getting mad. I asked to speak to a supervisor and she said it wasnt worthy of a supervisor.....
Then she hung up on me
It took us over an hour and 4 different people until someone understood and agreed to sent us the paperwork

 

[mmcguire]

1) On the way out the door, we glanced over at the table to make sure we didn't leave anything and saw our waiter walk past it, not even looking and run up to us. He said in this really rude tone, "Not to be rude or anything, but are you going to leave me a tip?" We were too shocked to do anything, so we just said that we did and it was on the table. Looking back, I should have walked back to the table and grabbed it and said "Not anymore."

At a Japanese steakhouse our waitress, who had totally neglected our table all night, cheerfully reminded us all to leave a tip for good service as she passed out our checks.

I was with a group in NYC once, and we all were paying at the register on the way out. None of us had cash, and were going to put our tips on our credit cards, that is, until our waiter confronted us for not leaving a tip on the table.

The WORST customer service I've had, however, was at an HQ warehouse (like Home Depot) about 10 years ago. I bought a paint sprayer, got home, and found dried paint on it, and parts missing from the box. I drove back 30 min. to exchange it, and the manager emphatically insisted they do NOT put used merchandise on their shelves, that there was no way it was used when I bought it. After several minutes of heated argument, he agreed to let me exchange it "this time" (his words). "This time" was right, because that was the last time I ever set foot in their store. I also sent a letter to their corporate office about the used sprayer and his attitude, and never got a reply. They filed for Chapter 11 in 1999. Hmmm...I wonder why??

 

[mirthmaiden]

the HQ story just reminded me of another one.

Before we moved into our house, we had to do a "walk thru" with a rep. from the builder. So we're walking through the kitchen and she opens up the microwave door to see an exploded plate of nachos inside. Sticky yellow cheese everywhere. Had been sitting there for days.

Needless to say, she was very apologetic. Turns out the responsible person was doing terrible work in lots of homes and had walked off the job for good that morning.

 

[Beth E. (NJ)]

I placed an order for dinner delivery at a local chinese restaurant for dinner for my family. I ordered a quart of wonton soup, fried pork dumplings, quart of beef and broccoli (for the kids), a pint of shrimp in lobster sauce (reliving my childhood) and (pay special attention here) eggplant in garlic sauce.

40 minutes go buy and the food arrives. DH is helping me unpack it and he says "did you order 2 beef and broccolis?" Or course not, that would be crazy!

On further inspection we realize that one dish is the beef in broccoli and the other appears to be broccoli and mushrooms. Not what I ordered. So I called the restaurant because I figured they mixed up my eggplant with someone elses broccoli mushroom dish. The guy who answered the phone says "No, you ordered broccoli with garlic sauce, not eggplant." Come On! I know what I ordered. I even wrote it down on a piece of paper when I was planning out my order. And I was so in the mood for eggplant in garlic sauce. I tried to explain that I would not have ordered 2 broccoli dishes and the person who took my order must have written it down wrong. The guy was like, "NO, you made a mistake." Then he hangs up on me.

Not to be deterred I call back. I tried to be nice. Really I did. I said "I believe that the person who took the order might have written it down wrong, because I know what I ordered and that was the dish I was really in the mood for so I would not have gotten it wrong." I also explained to him that we order from the restaurant all the time -- we had just ordered from there a few days ago and would he really jeopardize a good customer because he could not admit that me might have made a mistake. At this point dh is standing next to me saying "what kind of customer service is that!" But he basically accused me of lying and then he hung up again. He just kept saying "You ordered broccoli and garlic sauce" again and again.

I tried to call him back, but I think he switched the phone to fax. When I called back a while later I wanted to find out if he was the owner or manager. He told me that his name is "Ming" and that he just works there. He would not supply me with the name of the owner or manager but he told me that they were not there. I asked him if he would be speaking to them and I suggested that he tell them that he cost the restaurant a good repeat customer all because he could not say he was sorry for the mistake (which was a $6.75 dish.) An apology would have made me happy but I cannot put up with being accused of lying.

I did get some good customer service as a follow up because I posted this incident on a food board I frequent and someone told the owner. She must have looked on caller id and she took the time to call me later that week. I told her the whole story and she was very, very apologetic. She told me that the next time I am ordering I should ask for her directly.

I was very pleased to see that she took the time to contact me and make right what went wrong. I thought it showed alot of character on her part to do that.

 

[minniecarousel]

Funny how this came up today.

Our gardener won't come out to replace about 30 ft of vine on our new fence because (I guess) we didn't hire him to put up the new fence. He won't return my phone calls. Ya know what? I'll be firing him and mowing my own lawn. I'm so tired of hiring workers to do stuff that they don't do well.

 

[DisGirlAllie]

My parents were at a restaurant and had a really, really bad waitress. She took forever, was rude, no drink refills, my mom never did get a knife. So, my dad, who was usually a good tipper, left no tip. The waitress followed them TO THEIR CAR, shouting at how awful it was that they hadn't left a tip.

Number two-a friend's DD and BF were at a swimsuit shop in the mall. No one waited on them, the girl tried on several suits and finally found one she liked. They went to the counter to pay, no one there. They waited and waited and waited. Finally they decided to just leave the money behind the counter and leave. When the BF stepped behind the counter, there was the clerk on the floor. She had DIED there! Freaked them out completely. Not that that is bad customer service, exactly...

I would have screamed!

 

[cybrkitn]

2) Back in middle school, after dances, everyone would walk to a restaurant (our middle school is on a main road with Bob Evans, a Denny's, and a Wendys) and eat there. Once we decided to go to Denny's. We walked in and a few people had to use the restroom so the rest of us sat down and told the waiter we were going to wait for the people in the bathroom to come out. He walked away and we sat there for about 35-40 minutes. He never came back, not even to take our drink orders. We eventually just gave up and walked out.

Denny's has gone down hill. DH and I won't even eat there again. We stopped at a Denny's on the way from NY to VA. There was hardly anyone in the place and we were seated right away. Ordered drinks, which came pretty quick. We finally decide what we want and order. About 45 minutes go by and no order. We ask our server and she said she would check. She never came back to us with the status of our order. Meanwhile, she is talking to her co-workers on and off, then we hear her name being called several times by her co-workers who can't seem to find her to deliver orders.

Now during this time, people are starting to come in for lunch. One mother and son are seated behind us and orders their drinks. Once she found out how long we were waiting for our order, she decided not to stay and they left. Others were still waiting to be seated when the place was practically empty! Those customers also left.

DH finally had enough of waiting for lunch and found the manager. She found out that our order was given to another customer! The customer never mentioned it was the wrong order. Um, HELLO!!!! The manager, however, was very apologetic over what happened and had our order made right away as well as giving us our meal for free.

Even though it was resolved, we vowed never to step foot in another Denny's again.